1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a telecommunications network platform, which is a trusted Short Message Service (SMS) probing, filtering, message storage and message-display system to be deployed by service providers. The system allows subscribers to retrieve, view, respond to and forward their historic SMS messages.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Short Message Service (SMS) is a messaging service, which uses standardized interfaces for sending text messages to mobile phones over mobile communication networks. In 2G/3G cellular mobile communication networks, the Short Message Service Center (SMSC) is the essential network component responsible for handling SMS operations of the network. When a user sends an SMS message to a mobile user, the message gets stored in the SMSC which delivers it to the destination mobile user when he/she is available. An SMS message is stored temporarily in the SMSC if the recipient mobile phone is unreachable. It is possible for the sender to specify an expiry period after which the SMS message will be deleted from the SMSC. Once deleted, the SMS message will no longer be available for dispatch to the recipient mobile. The act of specifying an expiry period should be regarded by the sender as a request, where the SMSC can be configured to ignore delivery schedule requests made by the senders.
FIG. 1 shows the network infrastructure components involved in delivering an SMS message in a 2G/3G cellular mobile network operator. Consider a scenario in which an SMS message is sent by a user 101 to another user 119. The SMS message generated by the user 101 is first received by the originating Radio Access Network comprised of Base Station (BS) 110 and Controller 102. Thereafter, the SMS message is sent by Controller 102 to originating Mobile Switching Center (MSC) 104, to which the user 119 is currently registered through Controller 102 and interface 107. MSC 104 then sends the SMS message to SMSC 105 via interface 108. SMSC 105 queries the location of the recipient from Home Location Register (HLR) 103. Based on the location information of the terminating MSC received from HLR 103, SMSC 105 sends the SMS message to MSC 126 to which the user 119 is currently registered. MSC 126 then forwards the SMS message to the receiver via Controller 140 and BS 144 which currently provide service to the user 119.
If the receiver is not in the same mobile network with SMSC 105 as in the case of a user 101 sending an SMS message to another user 118, the message is first delivered to SMSC 105 via originating radio access network and originating MSC 104 as described above. When SMSC 105 queries the location of the recipient user 118 from HLR 103, the address of gateway mobile switching center (GW-MSC) 106 is returned. Therefore, SMSC 105 sends the SMS message to GW-MSC 106 which forwards the SMS message to the operator of the recipient via interconnection link 112. Note that the SMS messages coming from other operators are delivered through the SMSC(s) of the originating users' operators and not the SMSC(s) of the recipient's network.
Besides mobile terminals, it is also possible to create and send an SMS message to a mobile subscriber from an external application, so-called an External Short Message Entity (ESME). In FIG. 1, ESME 178 sends an SMS message to SMSC 105 directly using the Short Message Peer to Peer (SMPP) protocol (see, for example, the Short Message Peer to Peer Protocol Specification 5.0 by the SMPP Development Forum) through interface 114. SMSC 105 then delivers the SMS message to the receiver via either an MSC, which can be MSC 104 or MSC 126, or a GW-MSC, such as GW-MSC 106, depending on the location of the receiving user.
There are two main differences between 2G and 3G systems: one is the type of radio access technology used, and the other is the default existence of a packet-switched core network in 3G systems. These systems give rise to different radio access network components as well as different interfaces that connect the radio access network to the core network. While for 2G cellular systems BS 110 is a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and Controller 102 is a Base Station Controller (BSC), with 3G systems BS 110 is known as a Node B and Radio Network Controller (RNC) is the name of the structure which controls the operation of Node Bs.
In some 2G mobile operator networks that also support a packet-switched domain by providing General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) services and some 3G mobile operator networks, SMS messages can be delivered to the SMSC through Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) 187 using the interface 120 if Controller 102 transfers the SMS message to SGSN 187 instead of MSC 104. This is an option for operators that have a packet-switched domain, as SMSC 105 handles the delivery of the SMS message in a standard way irrespective of which network component it receives the message.
All SMS messages which are created by a subscriber in a network should first make their way to the SMSC of the mobile network operator, from where they are expected to be delivered to their destinations. If the recipient user, which can be either in the operator's network or in another operator's network, is unreachable, for instance, as in the case when the mobile phone is switched off, the MSC or GW-MSC returns the result to the SMSC, and the SMSC temporarily stores the SMS message. The SMSC retries to send the SMS message a few times within pre-defined time intervals and then if it can't deliver the message, the message is erased. Thereby, the SMS messages which are received by the SMSC are not permanently stored in a database.
The pre-grant patent publication to Casto et al. (2012/0083287) describes an external ‘SMS storage attached to the SMSC via a Mobile Application Part (MAP) interface (as defined in the MAP Specification—3GPP TS 09.02—by the 3GPP Forum) to store some of the short messages. The SMS storage per user is identified by an identification number (i.e., a mobile number), and that number is stored in ‘identification storage’ (typically within the HLR). A user of a mobile phone can direct his/her SMS messages to that identification number in which case these SMS messages get stored in the SMS storage of this invention. These messages are stored in a database and can be viewed by a user using a simple web interface. The sender of the SMS message can view or request to have the SMS message sent via an e-mail or can redirect the SMS message to another recipient terminal. While this reference uses a web interface, it is important to note that the SMS message is directed to the SMS storage via an identification number; meaning those SMS messages are not sent to a recipient's mobile phone.
The U.S. Pat. No. 7,373,384 to Bragado Carrasco et al. describes a system in which a mobile user may re-direct his/her SMS messages to a computer attached to the operator's network by sending an SMS message to a specific phone number assigned by the operator. During the redirection, all of the SMS messages of the user are blocked from his/her phone number. Upon sending another SMS message to that specific phone number, all stored SMS messages are directed back to the user's phone. In addition, the system can be configured to send auto-replies to all SMS messages the user receives during the redirection time period. It should be noted that this invention temporarily or permanently blocks the user from receiving SMS messages on his/her phone. It should also be noted that while there is an added capability to capture and store SMS messages in a database in the network, the system in Bragado et al. does not allow an SMS message to be sent to a recipient's cell phone while it is being stored in a database in parallel. It works in an ‘either or’ manner. The computer in the system, whose implementation details have not been disclosed, most likely mimics a user by proxying its phone number towards the SMSC to receive the SMS messages targeted to that user's phone number.
The E.P. Patent to Van Der Weide (1908313 B1) describes a tool installed either within the SMSC or the SGSN to monitor and diagnose SMS messages. Monitoring can be enabled and disabled by sending an SMS message to the tool. It can monitor all or selected SMS messages. It also has a means for storing collected SMS communication statistics and performance.